


Perhaps not quite an angel

by HopeS_park



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-12-13 17:14:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11764611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeS_park/pseuds/HopeS_park
Summary: When Agni tells him of his past, Soma comes to realize that Arshad was a whole different person.





	Perhaps not quite an angel

> Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses.
> 
> \- Ann Landers

 

_"Arshad, stop it!"_

_With a deep sigh, the white-haired man rolled onto his back. A faint layer of sweat covered his caramel colored skin._

_The girl next to him moved and rested her head on his heaving chest._

_"You've got some serious stamina, you know," she giggled, "You should have warned me, really."_

_Arshad shrugged a bit. His fingers made to move through her dark hair, brushing aside a few strands._

_"You simply should have known."_

_She shot him a look, which wasn’t meant to be anything other than teasing. Arshad simply smiled at her. Hearing a knock at the door, he set up and put his arm around Priya._

_The door opened and a shaking servant stepped over the threshold. The young man held a tray, filled with bowls full of fruits and sweets. Arshad got out of bed, slipping on a silken dressing gown. When he noticed the trembling limbs of the servant, and his effort of keeping the tray from slipping out of his hands, he pounced on him._

_Startled, the tray slipped from the servant’s hands, the bowls shattering into shards. When he’d recovered from the scare, he quickly made to collect the pieces._

_“I am so very sorry, Master Arshad. I simply didn’t expect it. I am so terribly sorry.”_

_But Arshad found amusement in the servant’s distress. He bent down to pick up a single grape and put it into his mouth. Then, he laughed. Priya, who still lay in the bed, encased in the finest silken blankets, did the same._

_“Being a Brahmin’s servant, don’t you think you should be fearless?”_

_The man looked up. “Master?”_

_Arshad went to sit on the bed, handing Priya a peach. “If you cannot even stand a little scare, perhaps I should just dismiss you completely.”_

“How terrible!” Soma exclaimed. He sat on the couch, knees bend and embracing a cushion. Wrapped in a blanket, he’d been eagerly listening to Agni’s story about his past life.

But now, he couldn’t help but interrupt him.

Agni lowered his gaze, though having perked up at the sound of Soma’s voice. He obviously felt deep shame over the happenings of his past.

“Had you not the right to say that?”

The two men jumped when Sebastian bent to refill their teacups.

Winter in London was cold and unforgiving, as Soma had come to learn.

Ciel and his butler had wanted to leave for the Phantomhive manor, but the weather had been so bad that they’d decided to stay in the townhouse. When the storm had started, Sebastian had made the offer to make tea and Ciel, who, after a lot of nagging from the Indian prince, had finally agreed that he couldn’t possibly work in this darkness, joined Agni and Soma in the drawing room.

They’d started off with a simple card game, but Soma had quickly grown tired of it and instead demanded that Agni tell him a story. It was his usual wish, of course. The wish, to hear something from his servant’s former life. Agni had always been very discreet about his life as Arshad, and Soma only knew a few things from the stories of strangers and his siblings.

But he wanted to know from Agni himself. He wanted to know how it _really_ had been.

He’d known that Arshad hadn’t been a nice man. But now, hearing these stories, Soma was happy to never have encountered him.

“I…No, I hadn’t,” Agni answered, quickly thanking Sebastian for the tea, before taking his cup, “I scared him and it was in his right to be shocked. When the tray fell from his hands, I should have helped him, instead of laughing at him.”

Ciel, looking up from his novel, shot Agni a glance.

“You really think so? You don’t think he should have been a little more composed?”

Agni jumped at the sound of the growling thunder.

“No. I do not,” he finally answered. It sounded like a speech of defeat.

Ciel made an uninterested noise, before losing himself in his novel again.

The white-haired man let loose a deep sigh and began to wrap his arms around himself. Not even Sebastian’s Earl Grey could warm him. This was a deeper cold. One that had creeped into his heart and threatened to bloom there.

“Well, then,” Soma, flopping himself back into the cushions, said, “Do continue.”

But Agni didn’t answer. He sat still, staring into his tea cup. Soma, who had grown accustomed to Agni’s behaviors, noticed that something was off.

“Agni?” he inquired in a silent voice.

When his servant still didn’t budge, he reached out a hand and laid it on Agni’s forearm. A smile on his lips, he began to stroke the blue fabric of Agni’s sherwani.

“Hey, it’s alright,” he whispered and smiled at his khansama.

Agni glanced at him, still a bit unsure of how to react.

“Do you want to go on?” Soma asked him. He embraced Agni’s arm and rested his head on his shoulder.

Taking a deep breath, Agni put up a hand to caress his prince’s hair. But, realizing that Ciel and Sebastian were still present, he put it down and instead brought it to rest on Soma’s thighs.

“It’ll only get worse from here,” he murmured.

But Soma shot him a reassuring smile. “It’s okay. I won’t judge. Besides, remember, it’s not Arshad I took into service, but you.” He chuckled. “And it’s not _Arshad_ I fell in love with.”

Agni’s heart stopped at this bold declaration. It’s not, that he’d never heard the word _love_ from his prince – he’d even said it himself. But never had they used it in front of anybody else, let alone their hosts.

But, looking at those, Ciel didn’t seem to be listening, and Sebastian only gave him a polite smile. If he’d heard and was shocked, he didn’t show.

Agni smiled at his prince. Taking a deep breath, he returned to his story.

 

_After the incident, the servant never again showed up in Arshad’s chambers. The Brahmin didn’t know whether his father had fired him, or whether he’d just become afraid of him._

_And honestly, he couldn’t care less._

_In the days to follow, he spent his time with Priya, who became something more than a lover. Arshad would never have admitted that he indeed had feelings for the girl. But he did._

_It started with her staying in the estate, living close by and spending their days together. After that, kisses and passionate nights followed, though Arshad had promised himself not to get too attached. But now, here he stood, barely ever averting his gaze from her._

_It took Arshad an awfully long time to finally accept the feelings._

_But when he had, he found it was far too late._

_One evening, when he entered his chambers, he saw Priya sitting on the bed, sorting through colorful saris which he had purchased for her, a few days ago. Noticing him, she lifted her head and shot him a smile._

_“What are you doing?” he asked, sitting down next to her._

_Priya lifted a pink sari and pressed it to her chest. “I wanted to surprise you,” she answered._

_Arshad lifted an eyebrow. “I bought those saris. I know what they look like.”_

_With a slight smile, Priya shook her head. She set the sari aside and instead scooted closer to the white-haired man, embracing his muscular upper arm._

_“I guess it can’t be helped now,” she jerked a finger into his side, causing him to startle, “I’m pregnant.”_

_Time passed in the blink of an eye and soon, Priya found herself on the floor. Her back aching and blood dripping from her nose onto the colorful carpet._

_Arshad towered above her, screaming at her, though she couldn’t make out the words._

Agni’s voice broke.

Soma wrapped his arms around him, whispering soothing words, trying to calm his sobbing khansama.

Even Ciel had now abandoned his novel, watching the scene in front of him. He’d never paid much attention to the two Indians, obviously never giving a second thought to their stories. Therefore, he had to admit that he was a bit shocked at the butler’s confession. The young Earl had always seen Agni as a somewhat tranquil constant in the prince’s life. The only calm thing that could keep the younger Indian at bay.

Soma, on the other side, didn’t really appear particularly shocked. He took the handkerchief that Sebastian had handed him, and gave it to Agni.

But a sudden confession of the man made him pause.

“ _I killed her._ ”

An uneasy stillness began to envelope the room, but it was soon broken by Soma, who had gotten up in a haste and had broken (yet again) another precious part of Ciel’s tea service.

“ _You_ did nothing!” he exclaimed, hands in his sides, “Yes, perhaps your _past-you_. But Agni, you know why I gave you this new name. To make you remember that you’re not the same anymore. And I never again want to hear any of this.”

 

* * *

 

Night had fallen and the household had retired altogether. Agni still lay awake, his thoughts racing back to past happenings in India. They scratched at the memories of his parents, but he never let himself get too far into them.

Suddenly, it must have been hours after midnight, the door creaked and a familiar face popped up. Surprised, Agni sat up. Propped up on his elbows, he tiredly lifted a brow.

“Prince Soma?”

The door closed behind the prince. With clumsy steps, feet wrapped in a blanket, he crossed the room until he stood in front of Agni’s bed. “I simply wanted to assure myself whether you were quite all right.”

Agni shot his bedside clock a look. “At three in the morning?”

Soma, pouting, lifted his servant’s blanket and got into his bed. “I was worried. There’s no specific time to get worried, is there?”

Smiling, Agni lay back down again. “No. I believe there’s not, my prin- _Ouch_.”

Soma had lightly hit him on his chest. Now, he wore a sheepish grin.

“At those times, it’s not _prince_ but just _Soma_. You know that, don’t you?”

Agni didn’t answer. He thought that maybe, it wasn’t in his nature to argue with a tired prince. Or a tired beloved, that is.

So, instead of answering, he wrapped his arms around the smaller one’s body and pressed a kiss to his temple.

“Sleep now,” Soma murmured, obviously enjoying Agni’s gentle caresses, “The demons of the past cannot hunt you. Not, when I am there to fend them off.”

He chuckled, embracing his lover more tightly. “And you do know that I’m quite a master of the martial arts.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was first supposed to become a part of "First days, then months, then years", but somehow it didn't really fit in there, and I wanted a different timeline for it, so here it is on its one. I don't really know where it came from, but I like it nonetheless. At first, I wanted to write the death of Priya, how Arshad killed her, but I think the inspiration left me too soon.  
> All in all, I'm quite happy with this one. (I love the ending~ XD)  
> It's actually weird how I never use the Japanese suffixes when I write those fics. It's just, I think they really don't fit the manga, though I'm happy Yana-sensei used them (It says SO MUCH about the character's relationships, really). But I'm kinda used to using "Prince" and I mean, he also does in the Japanese version. (Though he does use "sama" he uses "ouji(sama)" as well, so it's not that big of a difference)  
> I usually always use the Japanese honorifics (especially when I wrote Inuyasha FF), but, like I said, it somehow doesn't fit Kuroshitsuji, so I decided to just drop it and do what feels natural.


End file.
